Pres. Obama isn't a fan of patent trolls. "They are essentially trying to leverage and hijack...

Pres. Obama isn't a fan of patent trolls. "They are essentially trying to leverage and hijack somebody else's idea and see if they can extort some money," Obama stated during a Google+ hangout. He added, "Our efforts at patent reform are only about halfway to where we need to go." The remarks come as the DOJ and FTC hold hearings on patent trolls, and an appeals court debates whether software should be patentable. Some IP holders accused of being patent trolls: ACTG, VRNG, RMBS, VHC, IDCC, WILN.

I'm sure we can all agree patent trolling is counterproductive and bad business, what I find more interesting is the late trend of legitimate patent owners, like Apple or Google, forming entities for the explicit purpose of pursing royalties and litigation; i.e. forming patent trolls...

"They are essentially trying to leverage and hijack somebody else's idea and see if they can extort some money,"

I think you have it backwards. NPE's own IP to certain inventions that they developed. They are merely trying to get paid for their inventions being stolen by big business. The majority of times, big business laughs at the patent owner, which then the patent owner fairly uses the legal system to make inroads for proper payment.

You can make an argument that the large companies would not be successful unless they stole the patented ideas. In VHC's case, Apple ripped off the security functionality, which is key in making sure Facetime calls do not suffer from QOS issues while remaining secure. Without the security, Facetime sessions would be repeatedly hacked or users would have to enter username/passwords every 2 minutes to continue the sessions.

R&D outfits should be reasonably compensated for their research and not have to fight lengthy battles in court.

Patent trolls, I do not view these companies negatively. Think about this. Many of our most respected companies violate intellectual property rights as long as they think they can get away with this. Such behavior is to be condemned, not patent trolls.

what about the rambuses of the world who lie on the committees they belong to about their purpose and then say they hold a patent on that . Maybe we should get rid of patents and all deductions .. If you need it , u will buy it or invent it knowing you need it to stay in business. And others will just use or re-invent/manufacture it 4 themselves or resale. After all , that is what the Chinese are going to do anyway.

1. I'm not sure what is wrong with going to court over someone stealing your IP...that is the point of getting a patent, to protect your ideas from being stolen.2. As far as VirnetX $VHC, that company is made up of the inventors themselves, so not sure how they can be defined as a patent troll.

Instead of setting up rules unfavorable to those so-called "patent troll" companies, it may be a good thing for Obama to help these companies to develop into multinational power houses and then crack down on violations of IP by foreign countries/companies. After all, in this world market, the US will not win on low-cost labors. US can only win by having the most advanced technology, therefore, the need to protect IP.

Obama needs to clarify his definition of a "troll" before making such strong statements. Individuals and organizations define Patent Trolls very differently. Some believe a troll is any company trying to monetize patents they purchased. Others believe anyone trying to monetize any patents, even if they were developed in-house, is a troll. Others believe that to be a troll, you have to be a non-producing entity first, and then purchase someone else's patents second -- before attempting to monetize the patents. In my opinion, Apple or Google fit most people's definition of "patent troll" based on their participation in consortiums (like Rockstar, LLC) and based on the fact they do not directly manufacture the bulk of their mobile products.

Making unqualified blanket statements about a certain subset of companies is dangerous and reckless, even if you are the leader of the Free World.

If a valid patent exists and you infringe on it, don't blame the so-called patent troll for not letting you get away with it. It's basically crying foul over who you're paying the money to, not over whether you're using someone else's idea.

Clearly big companies (google) contributed to Obama's re-election and this is a favor i.e. business as usual in Washington. I really hope for his sake he was told to say this and its not his logic. The patent holders idea is getting hijacked. So, the point of owning one comes in to play, to get compensated for it.

If there were no patents then the little guy would have no motivation to invent anything because a big company could steal the idea and run the little guy out of the business.

Patents get exchanged for money regularly. If it has no value then its a failed patent. If it does then it will be expensive (vrng buying nok patents). Since this is now their property they have the right to litigate or "extort" for their "hijacked" idea.

Obama doesn't have a clue of what free markets or property rights mean.

This is from the man that said it you own a business, you didn't build that business.

Well, patents were developed by people who sent a lot of their time and research and applied for and were granted a patent. This become property. I think the people that bought these patents and own them have the right to not have others benefit when they didn't develop or purchase the patent. Obama doesn't really believe your property is your property.

Patent troll VRNG takes Google to court and a Federal District Court jury finds that Google et al infringed on their patent. So am I to understand that Obama thinks his justice system is also a gutter snipe? Or is it that David hired the Vringo team to launch the rock at Goliath that makes his ass twitch?

You folks act like at one time Obama actually knew what he was doing or stating. When ever a so called President is blaming the prior President for everything that is going wrong, even two or three years into his first term, then he has no clue on what to do. This is even more pitiful when that President has control of both houses his first two years and still can not get anything done.

Just wait till Obama care hits you in the face, then you will have something to really talk about. Even in his last state of the union address, he made a lot of statements on what he had done that really were not quiet true. Such as solar and wind power had doubled or even tripled. Well, that is a true statement but wind and solar power only makes up about 8% of our energy needs. Kind of really dumb statement to make in the state of the union message.

So, I for one is really not worried about what he says. Don't think it is going to rewrite any new law about patents. After all have you ever seen Washington move fast on anything.

Keep in mind, if you own one of the patent trolls listed above, your judgement is hopelessly clouded by money. Sell your investment, and THEN think about what's best for the country. Then, comment here.

Well I suppose if any of the company's mentioned in the article above make a profit they will be contributing to the country in taxes. And if they had the foresight to purchase or create a unique idea with dollars or time or both why should they not profit from it, regardless of who owns the patent rights. What's good for one should be good for all :)..

Well I suppose if any of the company's mentioned in the article above make a profit they will be contributing to the country in taxes.And if they had the foresight to purchase or create a unique idea with dollars or time or both and patent it, why should they not profit from it, regardless of who or how they own the patent rights. What's good for one should be good for all big or small right or wrong owner of the patent :)..

Little startup guy takes on Walgreens and WebMD for starters. MMRF.OB has been filing patents for 5 yrs (worldwide) to protect its IP. Should they succeed they will become as big as anyone out there. I like the underdog stories and if they succeed they are going to make a lot of people very happy... buyout potential is HUGE. imo